Add certification to cart: ISO standards for the e-com industry

In such an oversaturated market, obtaining new customers and retaining existing ones can be challenging. Luckily, with ISO certification, you can stand out, improve the quality of your products and services, and boost customer retention and acquisition. Wondering how? We explain in this article.

How does ISO certification help you stand out?

ISO certification is an international standard, and it takes continuous intervention and improvement to maintain, which means it comes with some serious bragging rights. In a world where scams are running rampant and data breaches happen every day – certification can prove that you’re trustworthy and committed to data security and quality products.

How does ISO certification help you boost customer retention?

Customers value consistency; they don’t want a previous experience to feel wildly different from their current one. That’s where certification comes in. ISO standards help you to consistently meet customer expectations so you can provide a great product or service every time.

How? ISO certification ensures consistency by setting clear, standardised procedures for all aspects of operations, so tasks are done the same way every time – regardless of who’s performing them. When your business consistently delivers amazing experiences, your customers will feel more inclined to purchase from your company again.

What ISO certification do e-commerce companies need?

ISO 9001 (Quality)

The success of your e-commerce business depends on the quality of your products and services. ISO 9001 aims to establish a quality management system to monitor all departments and activities of your business. With the necessary support from your employees and other stakeholders, you’ll enjoy increased productivity, better internal management, and consistent, measurable results.

If you want to provide goods that meet and exceed the customers’ expectations, ISO 9001:2015 can get you there. This quality management system standard involves reviewing and enhancing the structures, procedures, and responsibilities within an organisation to deliver quality products and services.

ISO 27001 (Information Security)

Cyber-attacks and data breaches are some of the main concerns affecting the e-commerce industry. Keeping critical information safe – like customers’ personal data and payment details – is an essential step towards successfully operating an e-commerce company. ISO 27001 outlines the best practices to achieve a robust information security management system.

At Citation Certification, we’ll equip you with adequate training to manage information security risks as you establish a strong information management system. With this certification, you can safeguard your reputation and protect employees’ and customers’ information.

ISO 14001 (Environmental)

ISO 14001 stipulates guidelines that organisations should follow to achieve effective environmental management systems. This international standard assures customers, employees, and the management team that the e-commerce company’s impact on the environment is measured and improved. ISO 14001 certification helps your company be more resource-efficient, reduce waste, cut down costs, and improve customer and stakeholder trust.

ISO 45001 (OH&S)

ISO 45001 certification is fundamentally designed to reduce workplace injuries, deaths and diseases through robust safety management systems. This is especially useful if your business uses a warehouse for packing and storage of goods. With this certification, your team members will be safe and feel more confident in their individual roles. Plus, they’ll be more mindful of best practices and take responsibility for the safety of themselves and co-workers.

The three steps to getting ISO certification

Citation Certification is here to support you in becoming ISO certified for your e-commerce company – and it’s easier than you think. You can get certified in as few as three steps:

Optional gap analysis

This is an optional preliminary step offered by Citation Certification to evaluate your existing systems and identify any faults that you need to correct.

We perform this analysis before beginning the three-stage certification process, to allow you time to prepare and correct any issues that could prevent you from getting certified. Alternatively, you can do the gap analysis yourself by downloading this free resource pack.

Step one: Stage 1 Audit

Evaluating your management system documentation, from the policies to the processes, review records, scope and context, and system implementation.

Step two: Stage 2 Audit

Then, we’ll verify that all the documented requirements are properly implemented across the entire business. One of our assessors will participate in discussions with key stakeholders from your company remotely to establish if the requirements have been properly implemented.

Step three: certification

When the stage 2 assessment is complete, we’ll issue you a ‘Statement of Certification’ that confirms your e-commerce company is compliant with the international ISO standard.

The certification is valid for three years, starting from the date of issue, but you’ll need to go through surveillance assessments at least once every 12 months to maintain it.

Why work with Citation Certification?

• We care about your business: we have an experienced team of experts who will check your ISO compliance and provide helpful quality management insights to achieve the required standards.
• Customer satisfaction: our priority is to equip our customers with information, a solid plan to implement the standards, and a legitimate certification to demonstrate compliance.
• We’re accredited: Citation Certification is a JAS-ANZ accredited institution, which means that our certification services are independently assessed to meet internationally recognised standards for competence, impartiality, and integrity.